Warm-Ups
by cym70
Summary: Blue gets more than she bargained for when she asks her crush to model for her. College AU.


**I'm sure there's probably half a dozen fics about cute gay modeling with these two already (and if there aren't, someone please write them), but how could I resist?**

 **Hope you enjoy, and feel free to come follow me at Twitter cym70 if you want to see me scream about Pearls with every new episode**

* * *

Somehow, Blue and Yellow always ended up in the same classes. They shared the same major, so it sort of made sense, but there were plenty of other people who did too and Blue had never had this many classes with them. The only time she didn't see Yellow was her art elective. A shame, because they probably would have been able to hold real conversations there instead of their usual exchange of "Hey, good morning" or "Ugh, I'm tired" or "Can I see your notes from last time?"

They were hovering in that odd space between acquaintances and friends. Or more than that? Blue was interested, and the brief conversations they held after class sometimes seemed to indicate that Yellow was too. And Blue knew it wouldn't be too hard to take that next step, but she always got so flustered when Yellow was in front of her that she forgot to actually ask her out. She was just so _cute._ It wasn't fair.

"Morning," Yellow greeted her as she slid into her seat. She looked rather exhausted today, her makeup perfect as always but her eyelids struggling to stay open.

"Good morning!" She wished she knew what kind of coffee it was that Yellow liked so she could have brought some with her occasionally, maybe lined it up with a day like today. "Up late studying?"

"I wish..." She rested her cheek against the table. "My roommate was having a party all night."

"Oh, I'm sorry." From what Blue could tell, Yellow and her roommate didn't get along too well. "Too loud for you to sleep?"

"Mm-hm. We don't have a test today, do we?"

"No," she laughed.

"Good." Yellow sighed, letting her eyes close. "Wake me up if something important happens?"

"Will do." Blue watched her for a moment, then blushed and quickly redirected her attention to her phone instead.

Nothing important enough happened during class, so Blue took careful, detailed notes and let Yellow get some rest. She was glad to see her looking more alert after her nap.

"Want to go over to the library to make a copy of these?" she suggested, holding up her notebook.

"Sure," Yellow said gratefully. "You know, this would be faster if you'd use a computer."

"I like how pen and paper feels," Blue argued. Besides, she also liked having an excuse to spend a few extra minutes with Yellow.

The copying went smoothly, and soon Yellow was stapling together the pages of notes and sticking them in her bag. "Thanks. You're going to spoil me, the way you decorate these and make them all cute."

She blushed. "I don't know if I'd call it decoration, I just doodle when I get bored."

"Still." Yellow started towards the door, motioning for Blue to follow her. "Are you an artist?"

"Um, yeah, as a hobby. I'm still learning but I really love it."

"That's cool. Is that what you're doing with your electives?"

"Mm-hm. What's yours?"

"I haven't decided yet, I keep putting them off." Yellow shrugged. "I'll pick whatever fits my schedule next year, I guess."

"Only one year left," Blue agreed with a smile. "I put off my last PE credit."

"I was wondering. When you didn't show up the first day, I thought I must have horribly offended you somehow; you're always copying me."

"I don't copy you!"

"Might as well be," Yellow laughed.

"Well, I'm not _trying_ to. That would be creepy."

"Maybe I'm the one copying you."

"Are you trying to keep me from sleeping tonight too?"

"Misery loves company."

Blue rolled her eyes. "I'm sure your roommate doesn't have enough energy for two parties in a row."

"You've never met her."

"Hm. Well…" This was a good opportunity, Blue realized all of a sudden. Yellow wanted to get out of her dorm and Blue wanted to ask her out. Ask her out…how? Her mind had suddenly gone blank. Just asking her to dinner seemed so bland, surely she could come up with _something_ more unique _._ "You could model for me," she blurted out.

"What?" Yellow asked, startled.

"If you want a change of scenery," Blue explained quickly. "I need to practice drawing people, so…if you wanted, you could model for me."

"Model," Yellow repeated slowly, a tinge of red on her cheeks. "I haven't tried that before."

"It was just an idea. It's okay if you're not into it."

"No, I am!" Yellow stopped walking for a moment, turning to face her. "That sounds like fun."

"Yeah?" Blue asked, relieved. "I can pay you for your time too, of course."

"Oh, stars no, you don't need to do that. I'm sure your company is reward enough."

"O-Oh." Well, that was the most direct Yellow had ever been with her flirting. Blue felt rather proud of herself for initiating this conversation now, even if she hadn't planned for it. "I'm sure yours is too, but let me at least treat you to dinner afterwards."

"I won't say no to that." Yellow smiled, a pretty blush adorning her entire face now. "Um, is there anything I should bring with me?"

Blue shook her head. "Just you."

"Got it. Well, I better go get a little more sleep so I'm not dozing off during anything important! See you at…?"

"Five?"

"Five," she agreed.

"I'll text you my room number?"

"Yeah, sounds good, I'm looking forward to it! See you later, Blue."

"See you."

* * *

Yellow arrived perfectly on time, with three sharp raps on the door that Blue had been anxiously awaiting all afternoon.

"Hi!" she greeted her as she opened the door. "Come on in."

"Thanks." Yellow took a quick look around the room. "You don't have a roommate?"

"Oh, no, she transferred out a couple weeks into the semester, so I get the place to myself."

"Nice." She took her purse off and placed it carefully on Blue's desk. "So you want to get started right away?"

"Sure, if that works for you."

"Yeah." Yellow cleared her throat, looking a little nervous. "Can I, uh, use your bathroom?"

"Yeah, sure," Blue agreed. "It's that door there."

"Thanks." The door clicked shut behind her.

Oh stars, Blue had really managed to ask her here. She really, really hoped this went well. They were finally going to be able to spend time together without having to run to their next class or Yellow needing to hurry off to work or anything else to interrupt them. They could finally test the waters with a real date.

Blue hurried to get all her supplies out, placing her big sketchbook and her pencils and erasers neatly on one end of her bed. Where should she have Yellow sit? On the other end of the bed? No, best to have her in the desk chair. She pulled that out to the center of the room.

The bathroom door creaked open. "A-Alright, I'm ready now," Yellow declared.

"Okay! You can just—" Blue froze as she turned to speak to her, confronted with a completely naked Yellow. "Oh my stars!"

"What?" Yellow asked, crossing her arms defensively.

"What do you mean _what?_ " Blue exclaimed, hastily covering her eyes with both hands. "Why aren't you wearing anything?!"

"You _did_ ask me to model for you," she pointed out, confusion lacing her normally confident voice. "Isn't this what you wanted?"

"No!" She could feel her face burning. "I didn't mean nude modeling, just—just regular modeling! With clothes!"

There was an uncomfortable pause, and then Yellow murmured a quiet "Oh."

Blue wasn't sure what to say, and every passing moment made it even more difficult to find the right words.

"Sorry," Yellow mumbled, nearly a full minute later, and then the bathroom door slammed.

Blue peeked through her fingers to the empty room, then slowly lowered her hands. Oh stars. Oh stars, oh stars, oh stars. What had just _happened?_

Yellow thought she meant nude modeling, okay. She supposed that maybe that was a reasonable misunderstanding. It was the sort of impression you might get from TV shows. Okay.

But Yellow had agreed to this arrangement so fast, and she'd said she was _looking forward to it_ , and that meant… Oh stars.

What was she supposed to do now? Yellow had to be ten times more embarrassed than she was.

She'd just wait for Yellow to change back into her clothes and then she'd apologize and they'd talk. Yes.

Blue tucked all her art supplies back into her desk. However this went, she was pretty sure no drawing was going to be happening.

About five minutes later, she was beginning to get worried. Ten minutes had her pacing the room.

Maybe Yellow had escaped out the bathroom window? No, the bathroom didn't have a window.

Blue walked over to the door and tentatively lifted a hand to knock. "Um, Yellow?" she called softly. "Are you alright? Do you need anything?"

"I'm okay," Yellow answered, her voice barely audible. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Blue bit her lip. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Just kicking myself for being such an idiot."

"You're not an idiot." She rested her hand against the doorknob. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah, sure…"

Blue pushed open the door carefully and stepped inside, shutting it again behind her. Yellow was sitting up against the shower, dressed again, though her clothes were haphazardly arranged. Even her perfectly styled hair had become messy in her rush to put everything back on, and her face was bright red as she glanced quickly up at Blue before averting her eyes.

"Hi," Blue said quietly, giving her a small smile.

"Hi."

"You're not an idiot," she repeated. "You just, um, jumped to conclusions. Very dramatically."

"You ought to sue me for sexual harassment."

Blue laughed. "I don't think that's necessary."

"Hm."

"I'm sorry, I probably should have been clearer when I asked you to model."

Yellow shook her head, tears visible in her eyes.

"Really, it's okay. It was just a misunderstanding."

She stayed silent, pulling her knees up to her chest.

"Yellow?" Blue knelt down what felt like a careful but friendly distance away. "Is there…something I can do to help you feel better? I could get you something to eat?"

"No."

"Okay." She hesitated. "Well, I'm going to get you some water at least." She stood quickly and went to retrieve a bottle of water from her small fridge. "Here you go," she said, setting it at Yellow's feet before sitting back down.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"You're welcome."

Blue watched her take a few small gulps of water.

"Well," Yellow said after a while, "I guess I should go now."

"Oh. Alright." Blue's heart sank. It made sense that Yellow would want to leave—she was definitely really embarrassed by the whole thing, and if it had happened to Blue, she would have wanted to be alone too.

"Thanks for the water."

She nodded.

"Okay."

"Yellow," Blue blurted out before she could get very far. "I-I definitely misunderstood our conversation before, but…regardless of the modeling, I'd still really like to go out sometime."

"You…would?" Yellow didn't seem to know what to make of the statement.

"I would. I'd like to get to know you better. The modeling was definitely an excuse to do that, even if it wasn't, um, the kind of excuse you thought it was."

"Oh." And this _oh_ was a relieved one, one that brought a tiny smile to Yellow's lips.

"If you decide you're still interested."

"In you or the modeling?"

"Either?" Blue squeaked out, startled by the question.

Yellow laughed a little. She pressed her hands to her cheeks like she was willing the color there to fade. "Then both," she said carefully. "But let's save the modeling for another day?"

Warmth rushed back to Blue's face. "Of course, I understand!"

"Thanks." Yellow took her hand, surprising her, and gave it a little nervous squeeze. "We could get dinner after class tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Yeah, that'd be perfect!"

* * *

"It's really not that good," Blue warned Yellow, clutching her sketchbook to her chest and backing away as the other woman tried to get a look. "I only started drawing about two years ago, so I have a lot to learn—"

"Just hand it over, Blue, I want to see!" she insisted. "I just sat there for ages and you're not going to let me look?"

"No, I will, I just didn't want you to have too high of expectations!"

"Don't be ridiculous, even your doodles are gorgeous. Let's see." Yellow held out her hands impatiently, making grabby motions.

"Alright," Blue relented, laughter warming her cheeks. "Here."

Yellow's face lit up as she accepted the sketchbook from Blue, taking it carefully in both hands. Her eyes traveled over the pencil lines intently, a smile growing on her lips all the while. "This is great, Blue."

"You really think so?"

"Definitely! Let's do it again!"

Blue giggled, taking her sketchbook back. "I thought you wanted a break."

"Who needs breaks?"

" _You_ ," she said pointedly, smiling as she set everything aside. "And me. Come on, we should both do some stretches."

"Okay, fine," Yellow sighed, coming over to sit on Blue's bed, pointing her toes out in front of her before swinging her legs back and forth. "But we _should_ do this again."

"Then we will," Blue replied happily. "I liked it too."

She beamed, and Blue felt the immediate need to kiss her. She tilted Yellow's face up gently and then leaned down to meet her lips.

"Thank you for helping out and being so supportive."

Yellow nodded, eyes sparkling. She tugged Blue down again and gave her another kiss, twining one leg loosely around Blue's. "Thank you for asking. And asking again, after that…humiliating debacle."

"Oh, please don't be too humiliated by it," Blue said, smiling. "In retrospect, it was actually pretty cute how you were so ready to try it."

"Well, you're hard to say no to. And I am very, very gay."

"And very, very sweet. But I'm not going to make any nude modeling requests of the person I like until at least the third date."

"How chivalrous and heteronormative of you."

"Thank you."

They laughed together, Yellow's arms wrapping around Blue's waist snugly.

"I'm just teasing," Blue added more seriously after a moment. "You aren't required to try it just because you said yes the one time."

"I know," she said easily. "But I'd like to. You know, once I've recovered from my first attempt."

"Okay. I'll look forward to it then!"

"It might take more than three dates."

"Oh no," Blue said, widening her eyes in mock horror. "What a tragedy, we'll have to have even more."

"I know."

"But in the meantime," Blue added thoughtfully, "I might be convinced to try a little modeling myself."

Yellow stared at her.

"Never mind, I'm sorry, that was too fast! I was just trying to sound cool! Forget I said it!"

"No, no, don't apologize," Yellow told her. "I was just trying to figure out if you meant that as a euphemism or not. I don't have a very good track record with, you know, distinguishing between the two."

"Ohhh." Blue laughed, face still warm. "Well, in this case, yes, it was. Unless you'd like to draw me for real."

"You'd just be a stick person."

"Even if I let you take off my shirt?"

"I mean, I wasn't going to draw you a shirt in the first place, so…"

"Scandalous," she laughed. "But how will anyone be able to tell the difference then?"

"I could make it a stick person with boobs?"

"Now I want to see this."

" _Blue_ ," she said exasperatedly.

"Okay, okay, I won't make you draw. This time." Blue moved one of Yellow's hands to the hem of the cozy oversized hoodie she was wearing. "I'm in the mood for some above the waist 'modeling' if you are."

"I am." Yellow's fingers slipped up into her shirt, brushing the skin at her waist gently before easing the hoodie up over Blue's head with some assistance. Underneath was a soft blue bralette. "On or off?" Yellow asked softly, running her finger down one strap.

"On for now," Blue decided, "but you can take it off once you warm me up a little. I didn't realize how cold it was in here."

"Don't you have a space heater right over there?"

"Don't spoil the fun."

"I was trying to accelerate the fun."

Blue laughed, latching her arms around Yellow's shoulders. "That's very you."

Yellow smiled as she traced her hands down Blue's sides firmly. "But I do want to make sure I appreciate my model too."

Blue smiled back, radiant, and drew her in for a kiss. "Don't worry," she whispered, "I'll feel just as appreciated if we move fast. I've been looking forward to this."

"Me too," Yellow murmured. "Alright, hold on." She leaned off the bed precariously to turn the heater on, Blue grabbing her arm to make sure she didn't topple off. "Done," she declared.

"Perfect." Blue let go, slipping her bralette off and letting herself fall onto her back, holding out her arms invitingly for Yellow to climb on top of her. "Come here, Number One Model."

She did, face flushed happily even as it took her a couple tries to find a comfortable position. "I don't know, I think I might have competition for that title," she said. It didn't come out nearly as smoothly as she must have intended it to, but it made Blue laugh all the same.

"One day we'll have a contest to decide then."

"That plan sounds quite agreeable."

Yellow leaned in to kiss her, and Blue let herself get lost in eager, curious touches. Whenever Yellow was ready to 'model' again, she told herself, she'd make sure her girlfriend felt just as wonderful as she did right now.


End file.
